Vice-Chancellor, Doctors, Heads of Colleges, and Proctors. ThenOxford became a hotbed of Puritanism. Cambridge already had astrong reformed element from Erasmus' influence. OxfordUniversity and Cambridge University were incorporated to have aperpetual existence for the virtuous education of youth andmaintenance of good literature. The Chancellors, masters, andscholars had a common seal. Undergraduate students entered at age16 and resided in rooms in colleges rather than in scatteredlodgings. Each undergraduate student had a tutor and those notseeking a degree could devise his own course of study with histutor's permission. Many students who were working on the sevenyear program for a Master's Degree went out of residence atcollege after the four year's "bachelor" course. Students hadtext books to read rather than simply listening to a teacherread books to them. Oxford was authorized to and did acquire itsown printing press. Examination was still by disputation.Students acted in Latin plays. If a student went to a tavern, hecould be flogged. For too elaborate clothing, he could be fined.Fines for absence from class were imposed.

All students had to reside in a college or hall, subscribe to the39 articles of the university, the Queen's supremacy, and theprayer book. Meals were taken together in the college halls. Theuniversities were divided into three tables: a fellows' table ofearls, barons, gentlemen, and doctors; a second table of mastersof arts, bachelors, and eminent citizens, and a third table ofpeople of low condition. Professors, doctors, masters of artsand students were all distinguishable by their gowns.

Undergraduate education was considered to be for the purpose ofgood living as well as good learning. It was to affect the body,mind, manners, sentiment, and business. The universitycurriculum included Latin and Greek languages and was for fouryears. The student spent at least one year on logic (syllogizing,induction, deduction, the thirteen classical fallacies, and theapplication of logic to other studies), at least one year onrhetoric, and at least one year on philosophy. The latterincluded physics, metaphysics, and ethics (domestic principlesof government, military history, diplomatic history, and publicprinciples of government), and mathematics (arithmetic, geometry,algebra, astronomy, music, optics). There were lectures on Greekand Latin literature, including Aristotle, Plato, and Cicero.

About 1564, the curriculum was changed to two terms of grammar,four terms of rhetoric, five terms of dialectic (examiningideas, opinions logically), three terms of arithmetic, and twoterms of music. There were now negative numbers, irrationalnumbers, and imaginary numbers. Also available were astrology,and alchemy, cultivation of gardens, and breeding of stock,especially dogs and horses. Astronomy, geometry, natural andmoral philosophy, and metaphysics were necessary for a master'sdegree. The university libraries of theological manuscripts inLatin were supplemented with many non-religious books.

There were graduate studies in theology, medicine, music, andlaw, which was a merging of civil and canon law together withpreparatory work for studying common law at the Inns of Court inLondon.

In London, legal training was given at the four Inns of Court.Only young gentry were admitted there and many later becamemembers of Parliament or Justices of the Peace. It took aboutseven years there to become a lawyer. Besides reading textbooksin Latin, the students observed at court and did work forpracticing lawyers. They often also studied and attendedlectures on astronomy, geography, history, mathematics,theology, music, navigation, foreign languages, and lectures onanatomy and medicine sponsored by the College of Physicians. Atour of the continent became a part of every gentleman'seducation.

Medical texts were Hippocrates and Galen. These viewed disease asonly part of the process of nature, without anything divine.They stressed empiricism, experience, collections of facts,evidences of the senses, and avoidance of philosophicalspeculations. Galen's great remedies were proper diet, exercise,massage, and bathing. He taught the importance of a good watersupply and good drainage. Greek medicinal doctrines wereassumed, such as preservations of the health of the body wasdependant on air, food, drink, movement and repose, sleeping andwaking, excretion and retention, and the passions. It was widelyknown that sleep was restorative and that bad news or worry couldspoil one's digestion. An Italian book of 1507 showed thatpost-mortem examinations could show cause of death bygallstones, heart disease, thrombosis of the veins, orabscesses.

Because physicians were allowed to dissect corpses, there wereanatomy textbooks and anatomy was related to surgery. Thecompound microscope was invented about 1590. A visit by a doctorcost 13s.4d. Melancholia, which made one always fearful and fullof dread, and mania, which made one think he could dosupernatural things, were considered to be different types ofmadness from infirmities of the body. Barber-surgeons extractedteeth and performed surgery. Barbers were allowed to do onlydentistry and bleeding. A College of Surgeons was founded.Teachers of surgery used corpses of felons to teach anatomy. Eventhe poor were buried in coffins.

All forms of English literature were now in print, except forplays. In 1600 William Gelbert wrote a book on terrestrialmagnetism which founded the science of electricity. Hecultivated the method of experiment and of inductive reasoningfrom observation. He expounded the idea of Nicolaus Copernicus ofPoland published in 1543 that the earth revolves around the sunin a solar system. However, the prevailing belief was still thatthe earth was at the center of the universe.

Many people kept diaries. Letter-writing was frequent at court.Correctness of spelling was beginning to be developed. Printerstended to standardize it. There was much reading of romances,jest books, histories, plays, prayer collections, andencyclopedias, as well as the Bible. In schools and gentryhouseholds, favorite reading was Edmund Spenser's "Faerie Queen"about moral virtues and the faults and errors which beset them,Erasmus' New Testament, "Paraphrases", "Colloquies", and"Adages", Sir Thomas North's edition of Plutarch's "Lives of theNoble Grecians and Romans", Elyot's "The Book Named theGovernor", and Hoby's translation of "The Courtier". At a morepopular level were Caxton's "The Golden Legend", Baldwin's"Mirror for Magistrates", Foxe's "Book of Martyrs" about Englishprotestant who suffered at the stake, sensational stories andpamphlets, printed sermons (including those of Switzerland'sCalvin), chronicles, travel books, almanacs, herbals, andmedical works. English fiction began and was read. There weresome books for children. Books were copywrited, althoughnon-gentlemen writers needed a patron. At the lowest level ofliteracy were ballads describing recent events. Next to sermons,the printing press was kept busiest with rhymed ballads aboutcurrent events. Printed broadsheets on political issues could bedistributed quickly. In London, news was brought to the Governorof the News Staple, who classified it as authentic, aprocryphal,barber's news, tailor's news, etc. and stamped it. Books werealso censored for matter against the state church. This wascarried out through the Stationers' Company. This company wasnow, by charter, the official authority over the entire booktrade, with almost sole rights of printing (e.g. excludingschools). It could burn other books and imprison their printers.

Travel books had maps, itineraries, and mileage between towns inEngland and Wales according to a survey completed in 1579, aboutwhich time the Queen had a postal system on the high roads forofficial business. Non-government people used private posthorses. The gentry rode horses. Most people's mode of travel wasstill walking. In 1564, the first canal was built with locks atExeter.

William Shakespeare, a glove-maker's son, wrote plays abouthistorical events and plays which portrayed various humanpersonalities and their interactions with each other. They wereenjoyed by all classes of people. His histories were especiallypopular. The Queen and various earls each employed players andactors, who went on tour as a troupe and performed on a roundopen-air stage, with people standing around to watch. In London,theaters such as the Globe were built specifically for theperformance of plays, which had been performed at inns. Therewere costumes, but no sets. Ordinary admission was 2d. Beforebeing performed, a play had to be licensed by the Master of theRevels to make sure that there was nothing detrimental to thepeace and public order. The common people still went tomorality plays, but also to plays in which historical personageswere portrayed, such as Richard II, Henry IV, and Henry V. Someplays were on contemporary issues. Musicians played together asorchestras. Music and singing was a popular pastime aftersupper; everyone was expected to participate. Dancing waspopular with all classes. Gentlemen played cards, dice, chess,billiards, tennis, and fenced and had games on horseback. Theirdeer- hunting diminished as forests were cut down for agricultureand the deer was viewed as an enemy eating crops. Falconrydiminished as hedges and enclosures displaced the broad expansesof land. With enclosure there could be more innovation and moreefficiency. It was easier to prevent over-grazing and half-starved animals as a result.

Country people had music, dancing, pantomime shows with masks,riddles, wrestling, hurling, running, swimming, leap frog,blindman's buff, shovelboard played with the hands, and footballbetween villages with the goal to get the ball into one's ownvillage. There were many tales involving fairies, witches,devils, ghosts, evil spirits, angels, and monsters enjoyed byadults as well as children. Many people were stillsuperstitious, believed in charms, curses, divination, omens,fate, and advice from astrologers. The ghosts of the earthwalked the earth, usually because of some foul play to bedisclosed, wrong to be set right, to warn those dear to them ofperil, or to watch over hidden treasure. Fairies blessed homes,rewarded minor virtues, and punished mild wrongdoing. Whenfairies were unhappy, the weather was bad. There were partiesfor children.

The merry guild-feast was no longer a feature of village life.There were fewer holydays and festivals. The most prosperousperiod of the laborer was closing. An agricultural laborer'syearly wage was about 154s., but his cost of living, which nowincluded house rent, was about 160s. a year. In 1533, daily wagesin the summer for an agricultural laborer were about 4d. and foran artisan 6d. In 1563 in the county of Rutland, daily wages forlaborers were 7d. in summer and 6d. in winter; and for artisanswere 9d. in summer and 8d. in winter.

There were endowed hospitals in London for the sick and infirm.There were others for orphans, for derelict children, and forthe destitute. They worked at jobs in the hospital according totheir abilities. There was also a house of correction fordiscipline of the idle and vicious by productive work.

In the towns, shop shutters were let down to form a counter.Behide this the goods were made and/or stored. The towns held amarket once a week. Fairs occurred once or twice a year. Atgiven times in the towns, everyone was to throw buckets of wateronto the street to cleanse it. During epidemics in towns, therewas quarantine of those affected to stay in their houses unlessgoing out on business. Their houses were marked and they had tocarry a white rod when outside. The quarantine of a personlasted for forty days. The straw in his house was burned and hisclothes treated. People who died had to be buried under six feetof ground.

Communities were taxed for the upkeep and relief of the prisonersin the jails in their communities.

Church services included a sermon and were in accordance with areformed prayer book and in English, as was the Bible. Communionof participants replaced mass by priests. Elizabeth was notdoctrinaire in religious matters, but pragmatic. She alwayslooked for ways to accommodate all views on what religiousaspects to adopt or decline. Attendance at state church serviceson Sunday mornings and evenings and Holydays was enforced by afine of 12d. imposed by the church wardens. People could holdwhat religious beliefs they would, even atheism, as long as theymaintained an outward conformity. For instance, babies were to bebaptized before they were one month old or the parents would bepunished.

There was difficulty persuading educated and moral men to beministers. The Bible was read at home and familiar to everyone.This led to the growth of the Puritan movement. The Puritanscomplained that the church exerted insufficient control over themorals of the congregation. They thought that ministers and layelders of each parish should regulate religious affairs and thatthe bishops should be reduced to an equality with the rest ofthe clergy. The office of archbishop should be eliminated andthe head of state should not necessarily be governor of thechurch. Their ideas of morality were very strict and even playswere though to be immoral. The puritan movement included WilliamBrewster, an assistant to a court official who was disciplinedfor delivering, upon pressure from the council, the Queen'ssigned execution order for Mary of Scotland after the Queen hadtold him to hold it until she directed otherwise.

The debased coinage was replaced by a recoinage of newly mintedcoins with a true silver weight.

Goldsmiths, who also worked silver, often acted as guardians ofclients' wealth. They began to borrow at interest at one rate inorder to lend out to traders at a higher rate. This beganbanking.

Patents were begun to encourage the new merchant lords to developlocal manufactures or to expand import and export trade. Patentswere for a new manufacture or an improved older one anddetermined the wages of its trades. There was chartering ofmerchant companies and granting of exclusive rights to newindustries as monopolies. Some monopolies or licenses werepatents or copyrights. Others established trading companies fortrade to certain foreign lands and supporting consularservices. But there were two detrimental effects: monopoly was asevere burden to the middle and poorer classes, and the power ofpatent holder to arrest and imprison persons charged withinfringing upon their rights was extended to any dislikedperson.

There was sharing of stock of companies, usually by merchants ofthe same type of goods. There were many stockholders of the EastIndia Company, chartered in 1600 to trade there. Newincorporated companies were associations of employers and oftenincluded a number of trades, instead of the old guilds which wereassociations of actual workers. Town government was oftencontrolled by a few merchant wholesalers. The entire trade of atown might be controlled by its drapers or by a company of theMerchant Adventurers. The charter of the latter as of 1564allowed a common seal, perpetual existence, liberty to purchaselands, and liberty to exercise their government in any part ofthe nation. There were policies of insurance given by groups ofpeople for losses of ships and their goods.

There were monopolies on cloth, tin, starch, fish, oil, vinegar,and salt. New companies were incorporated for many trades, theostensible reason being the supervision of the quality of thewares produced in that trade. (Shoemakers, haberdashers,saddlers, and curriers exercised close supervision over thesewares.) They paid heavily for their patents or charters.

There was no sharp line between craftsman and shopkeeper orbetween shopkeeper and wholesale merchant. In London, anenterprising citizen could pass freely from one occupation toanother. Borrowing money for a new enterprise was common.Industrial suburbs grew up around London and some towns becameknown as specialists in certain industries. The building craftsin the towns often joined together into one company, e.g.wrights, carpenters, slaters, and sawyers, or joiners, turners,carvers, bricklayers, tilers, wallers, plasterers, and paviors.These companies included small contractors, independent masters,and journeymen. The master craftsman often was a tradesman aswell, who supplied timber, bricks, or lime for the buildingbeing constructed. The company of painters was chartered with aprovision prohibiting painting by persons not apprenticed forseven years.

The prosperous merchants began to form a capitalistic class ascapitalism grew. Competition for renting farm land, previouslyunknown, caused these rents to rise. The price of wheat rose toan average of 14s. per quarter, thereby encouraging tillage oncemore. There was steady inflation.

The breed of horses and cattle was improved. There werespecializations such as the hunting horse and the coach horse.Dogs had been bred into various types of hounds for hunting,water and land spaniels for falconry, and other dogs as housedogs or toy dogs. There were no longer any wild boar or wildcattle. The turkey joined the cocks, hens, geese, ducks,pigeons, and peacocks in the farmyard. Manure and dressings wereused to better effect on the soil.

There are locks and canals as well as rivers. At London Bridge,water-wheels and pumps are installed. There are now four royalpostal routes from London to various corners of the nation.Horses are posted along the way for the mail- deliverer's use.However, private mail still goes by packman or common carrier.There were compasses with a bearing dial on a circular plate withdegrees up to 360 noted. The nation's inland trade developed alot. There were many more wayfaring traders operating from towninns. There were new industries such as glassware, iron,brasswares, alum and coppers, gunpowder, paper, coal, and sugar.Coal was used for fuel as well as wood, which was becomingscarce. Small metal goods, especially cutlery, was made, as wellas nails, bolts, hinges, locks, ploughing and harrowingequipment, rakes, pitch forks, shovels, spades, and sickles.Lead was used for windows and roofs. Copper and brass were usedto make pots and pans. Pewter was used for plates drinkingvessels, and candlesticks. Iron was used for fire-backs, pots,and boilers. Also in use was canvas, lead, and rice. Competitionwas the mainspring of trade and therefore of town life.

Parliament enacted laws and voted taxes. The Queen, Lords, andCommons cooperated together. There was little dissension ordebating. There were many bills concerning personal, local, orsectional interests, but priority for consideration was given topublic measures. The knights in the commons were almostinvariably from the county's leading families and chosen byconsensus in the county court. The commons gradually won for itsmembers freedom from arrest without its permission and theright of punishing and expelling members for crimes committed.Tax on land remained at 10% of its estimated yearly income. TheQueen deferred to the church convocation to define Christianfaith and religion, thus separating church and state functions.

The Treasury sought to keep a balanced budget by selling royalland and keeping Crown expenditures down. The Crown carried aslight debt incurred before the Queen's accession.

After exhausting every other alternative, the Queen agreed on theexecution of Mary, Queen of Scots, for being involved in a plotto assassinate her and claim the throne of England.

Francis Drake sailed around the world from 1577 to 1580. WalterRalegh made an expedition to North America in 1584 and namedVirginia in honor of the Queen, who was a virgin. Drake andRalegh plundered Spanish ships for American gold and silver,much of which was used to pay for the war with Spain, whichplanned to invade England, even after the unsuccessful attemptby the Spanish Armada in 1588. The two hundred English shipswere built to sink other ships rather than to board and capturethem. The English guns outranged the Spanish guns. So thesmaller English ships had been able to get close enough to thebig Spanish troop-transport galleons to shoot them up withoutbeing fired upon. The direction of the wind forced the Spanishgalleons northward, where most of them were destroyed by storms.The English seamen had been arbitrarily pressed into thisservice.

- The Law -

Although estate tails (estates descendible only to the heirs ofthe body of the original feofee) by law could not be sold orgiven away, this was circumvented by use of a straw man. Incollaboration with the possessor of the property, this straw mansued the possessor asserting that the property had beenwrongfully taken from the straw man. The possessor pleaded thatthe crier of the court who had warranted it should be called todefend the action. He failed to appear until after judgment hadbeen given to the straw man. Then the straw man conveyed it tothe possessor or his nominee in fee simple.

Wearing of velvet or embroidery is restricted to those with anincome over 40,000s. The wearing of satin or silk is restrictedto those with an income over 20,000s.

No one shall make false linen by stretching it and adding littlepieces of wood, which is so weak that it comes apart after fivewashings.

Timber shall not be felled to make logs for fires for the makingof iron.

No one may take small fish to feed to dogs and pigs. Only netswith mesh leaving three inches spaces may be used to catch fish.

No attainder shall result in the forfeiture of dower by theoffender's wife nor disinheritance of his heirs.

The following statute of artificers regulated labor for the nexttwo centuries:

No master or mistress may employ a servant for a term less thanone year in the crafts of clothiers, woolen cloth weavers,tuckers, fullers, clothworkers, sheermen, dyers, hosiers,tailors, shoemakers, tanners pewterers, bakers, brewers,glove-makers, cutlers, smith, farriers, curriers, saddlers,spurriers, turners, cappers, hatmakers, feltmakers, bow-makers,arrow-makers, arrow-head- makers, butchers, cooks, or millers, sothat agriculture will be advanced and idleness diminished.Also, every craftsman unmarried or under age 30 who is notworking must accept employment by any person needing the craftwork. Also, any common person between 12 and 60 who is notworking must accept employment in agriculture. And, unmarriedwomen between 12 and 40 may be required by town officials towork by the year, the week, or day for wages they determine.

All artificers and laborers hired by the day or week shall workfrom 5 am to 7 PM. All artificers must labor at agriculture athaytime and harvest to avoid the loss of grain or hay. Everyhouseholder who raises crops may receive as an apprentice achild between 10 and 18 to serve in agriculture until he is age21. A householder in a town may receive a child as an apprenticefor 7 years, but merchants may only take as apprentices childrenof parents with 40s. freehold. (This was designed to inhibitmigration to the towns.)

No one may be a craftsman until he has served seven years as anapprentice. These artificers may have children as apprentices:smith, wheelmaker, ploughmaker, millmaker, miller, carpenter,rough mason, plasterer, a timber sawer, an ore burner, a limeburner, brickmaker, bricklayer, tilemaker, tiler, layer of slateroofs, layer of wood shingle roofs, layer of straw roofs, cooper,earthen potter, linen weaver, housewife who weaves wool for saleor for household use.

Fish, but no meat, may be eaten on Wednesdays so that there willbe more fishermen and mariners and repair of ports. (This wasdone because fishing had declined since the dissolution of themonasteries. Eating fish instead of meat in Lent in thespringtime remained a tradition.)

For repairing of highways, the supervisors may take the rubbishor smallest stones of any quarry along the road in theirprecinct.

Embezzlement or theft by a servant of his master's goods of 40s.or more is a felony.

No one shall forge a deed of land, charter, sealed writing, courtroll or will.

No one shall libel or slander so as to cause a rebellion.

Cut-purses and pick-purses shall not have benefit of clergy.

A debtor may not engage in a fraudulent collusion to sell hisland and goods in order to avoid his creditors.

A person robbing a house of 5s. by day when no one is there shallnot have benefit of clergy, because too many poor persons whocannot hire a servant to look after their house when they go towork have been robbed.

The price of barrels shall be set by mayors of the towns wherethey are sold.

No man under the degree of knight may wear a hat or cap ofvelvet. Caps may not be made of felt, but only knit wool. Onlyhats may be made of felt. This is to assist the craft of makingwool caps.

Every person over 6 years of age shall wear a wool knitted capmade by the cappers on Sundays, except maidens, ladies,gentlewomen, noble persons, and every lord, knight, andgentlemen with 2,667s. of land, since the practice of notwearing caps has damaged the capping industry. This employedcappers and poor people they had employed and the decrepit andlame as carders, spinners, knitters, parters, forses, thickers,dressers, dyers, battelers, shearers, pressers, edgers, liners,and bandmakers.

Rugs shall weigh 44 pounds at least and be 35 yards at least inlength and at most 3/4 yard wide.

The incorporated company of ship masters may erect beacons andmarks on the seashores and hills above, because certain steeplesand other marks used for navigation have fallen down and shipstherefore have been lost in the sea.

There shall be one sheriff per county, because now there areenough able men to supply one per county.

Trials of noblemen for treason shall be by their peers.

A native or denizen merchant in wholesale or retail goods wholeaves the nation to defraud his creditors shall be declared abankrupt. The Chancellor may conduct an investigation toascertain his land, house, and goods, no matter who may holdthem. They shall be appraised and sold to satisfy his debts.

Loan contracts for money lent may not be for more than 200s. foreach 2000s. yearly. All loans of money or forbearing of money insales of goods for less than this shall be punishable by forfeitof the interest only.

No cattle may be put in any enclosed woods that have beengrowing less than five years. At the end of five years growth,calves may be put in. At the end of six years growth, cattle maybe put in.

The mother and reputed father of any bastard who has been left tobe kept at the parish where born must pay weekly for the upkeepand relief of such child, so that the true aged and disabled ofthe parish get their relief and to punish the lewd life.

No master at a university may lease any land unless 1/3 of it isretained for crop-raising to supply the colleges and halls forfood for their scholars.

Persons with 100s. in goods or 40s. in lands shall find two ablemen in their parish community to repair the highways yearly.

Landowners of Oxford shall be taxed for the repair of the highwayand bridge there.

Woods around London shall not be felled to be converted to coalsfor iron-works because London needs the wood to make buildingsand for fire-places.

Every melter and maker of wax from honeycombs shall put his markon every piece of his wax to be sold. Wrought wax such as inlights, staff-torches, red wax or sealing wax, book candles, orsearing candles shall bear its maker's mark. All barrels ofhoney shall bear the mark of the honeymaker.

No one shall take or kill any pheasants with nets or devices atnighttime because such have become scarce.

Lands, tenements, goods and chattels of accountants teller, orreceiver who are in debt may be obtained by court order tosatisfy the debt by garnishing the heir of the debtor after theheir has reached 21 and for the 8 years next ensuing.

Fraudulent and secret conveyances made to retain the use of one'sland when one sells the land to a bona fide purchaser for valuein fee simple, fee tail, for life, for lives, or for years arevoid.

No new iron mills or furnaces for making or working of any ironor iron metal shall be established in the country around Londonand the owners of carriages of coals, mines and iron which haveimpaired or destroyed the highways shall also carry coal ashes,gravel, or stone to repair these highways or else make a paymentof 2s.6d. for each cart load not carried.

No one shall bribe an elector to vote for a certain person forfellow, scholar, or officer of a college, school, or hall orhospital so that the fittest persons will be elected, thoughlacking in money or friends, and learning will therefore beadvanced.

Cottage and dwelling houses for workmen or laborers in mineralworks, coal mines, or quarries of stone or slate for the makingof brick, tile, lime, or coals shall be built only within a milefrom such works. Dwelling houses beyond this must be supportedby four acres of land to be continually occupied and manured aslong as the dwelling house is inhabited or forfeit 40s. per monthto the Queen. Cottages and dwelling houses for sailors orlaborers working on ships for the sea shall be built only withina mile of the sea. A cottage may be built in a forest or parkfor a game-keeper of the deer. A cottage may be built for aherd-man or shepherd for the keeping of cattle or sheep of thetown. A cottage may be built for a poor, lame, sick, aged, ordisabled person on waste or common land. More families than onemay not be placed in one cottage or dwelling house.

A vagabond or mighty strong beggar [able to work] shall bewhipped.

Any person with land in fee-simple may establish a hospital,abiding place, or house of correction to have continuanceforever as a corporation for the sustenance and relief of themaimed, poor, or disabled people as to set the poor to work. Thenet income shall not exceed 40,000s. yearly.

Troops of vagabonds with weapons in the highways who pretend tobe soldiers or mariners have committed robberies and murders. Soall vagabonds shall settle down in some service or labor ortrade.

Pontage [toll for upkeep and repair of bridges] shall be taken atcertain bridges: carts 2d., horse and pack 1d., a flock of sheep2d.

Churchwardens of every parish shall oversee the poor in theirparish. They shall, with consent of the Justices of the Peace,set to work children whose parents cannot maintain them and alsoset to work married or unmarried persons who have no trade andno means to maintain themselves. Churchwardens shall tax everyinhabitant, including parson and vicar and every occupier of landand houses as they shall think fit. There will be a convenientstock of flax, hemp, wool, thread, iron and other necessary wareand stuff to set the poor on work. There will be competent sumsof money for the relief of the lame, impotent, old, blind, andothers not able to work, and also for the putting out of childrento be apprentices. Child apprentices may be bound until 21 yearsof age or until time of marriage. They shall account to theJustices of the Peace for all money received and paid. Thepenalty for absence or neglect is 20s. If any parish cannotraise sufficient funds, the Justices of the Peace may tax othernearby parishes to pay, and then the hundred, and then thecounty. Grandparents, parents, and children of every poor, old,blind, lame, or impotent person not able to work, being ofsufficient ability, shall at their own charge, relieve andmaintain every such poor person in that manner and according tothat rate as Justices of the Peace of that county determine, orforfeit 20s. per month. Two Justices of the Peace may commit tojail or house of correction persons refusing to work anddisobedient churchwardens and overseers. The overseers may, withthe consent of the lord of the manor, build houses on common orwaste land for the poor at the expense of the parish, in whichthey may place more than one family in each houses.

Every parish shall pay weekly 2-10d. toward the relief of sick,hurt, and maimed soldiers and mariners. Counties with more thanfifty parishes need pay only 2- 6d. The county treasurer shallkeep registers and accounts. Soldiers begging shall lose theirpension and shall be adjudged a common rogue or vagabond subjectto imprisonment and punishment.

Defendants may not petition to remove a case to the Westminstercourts after a jury is selected because such has resulted inunnecessary expense to plaintiffs and delay for defendants inwhich they suborn perjury by obtaining witnesses to perjurethemselves.

Sheriffs summoning defendants without a writ shall pay 200s. anddamages to the defendant, and 400s. to the King.

Since administrators of goods of people dying intestate who failto pay the creditors of the deceased often can't pay the debtsfrom their own money, the people (who are not creditors)receiving the goods shall pay the creditors.

Persons forcibly taking others across county lines to hold themfor ransom and those taking or giving blackmail money and thosewho burn barns or stacks of grain shall be declared felons andshall suffer death, without any benefit of clergy or sanctuary.

A proclamation in 1601 reformed the hated monopolies.

No bishop may lease land for more than twenty-one years in orthree lives.

No bishop may alienate any possession of their sees to the crown.Such are void.

Stewards of leet and baron courts may no longer receive, in theirown names, profits of the court over 12d. since they have vexedsubjects with grievous fines and amercements so that profits ofjustice have grown much.

Incorrigible and dangerous rogues shall be branded with an "R"mark on the left shoulder and be put to labor, becausebanishment did not work as they came back undetected. If one iscaught again begging, he shall be deemed a felon.

Benefit of clergy may not be had for stabbing a person who has noweapon drawn, if he dies within six months.

Any innkeeper, victualler, or alehouse keeper who allows drinkingby persons other than those invited by a traveler whoaccompanies him during his necessary abode there and other thanlaborers and handicraftsmen in towns upon the usual working daysfor one hour at dinner time to take their diet in an alehouse andother than laborers and workmen following their work to any giventown to sojourn, lodge, or victual in any inn, alehouse orvictuallinge house shall forfeit 10s. for each offense. This isbecause the use of inns, alehouses, and victuallinge houses wasintended for relief and lodgings of travelling people and peoplenot able to provide their own victuals, but not for entertainmentand harboring of lewd and idle people who become drunk.

If a person marries a second time while the first spouse is stillliving, it shall be a felony and thus punishable by death.

Watermen transporting people on the Thames River shall haveserved as apprentice to a waterman for five years or have beenthe son of a waterman. This is to prevent the loss of lives andgoods by inexperienced watermen.

No one may make any hat unless he has served as apprentice for atleast seven years. This is to prevent false and deceitfulhat-making by unskillful persons.

Spices and drugs, including pepper, cloves, mace, nutmeg,cinnamon, ginger, almonds, and dates, which have usually beengarbled shall be garbled, cleaned, sorted, and sealed by theGarbler before sale. This is to prevent mingled, corrupt, andunclean spices and drugs from being sold.

Plasterers shall cease painting because it has intruded upon thelivelihoods of painters who have been apprenticed as such.

No butcher may cut any hide or any ox, bull, steer, or cow sothat it is impaired or may kill any calf under five weeks old.No butcher may be a tanner. No one may be a tanner unlessapprenticed as such for seven years or the son or wife of atanner who has tanned for four years or a son or daughter of atanner who inherits his tanhouse. Tanners may not be shoemakers,curriers, butchers, or leatherworkers. Only tanners may buy rawhides. Only leatherworkers may buy leather. Only sufficientlystrong and substantial leather may be used for sole- leather.Curriers may not be tanners. Curriers may not refuse to curryleather. London searchers shall inspect leather, seal and markthat which is sufficient, and seize any that is insufficientlytanned, curried, wrought, or used.

Fishermen and their guides may continue to use the coastland fortheir fishing activities despite the trespass to landowners.

Since sails for ships in recent years have been made in the realminstead of imported, none shall make such cloth unless he hasbeen apprenticed in such or brought up in the trade for sevenyears. This is to stop the badness of such cloth.

Any person killing any pheasant, partridge, dove, pigeon, duck orthe like with any gun, crossbow, stonebow, or longbow, or withdogs and nets or snares, or taking the eggs of such from theirnests, or tracing or taking hares in the snow shall beimprisoned for three months unless he pays 20s. per head or,after one month's imprisonment, have two sureties bound for400s. This is because the past penalty of payment hasn'tdeterred offenders, who frequently cannot pay.

Persons affected by the plague may not leave their houses or bedeemed felons and suffer death. This is to avoid furtherinfection. The towns may tax their inhabitants for the relief ofinfected persons.

Tonnage [tax per ton] and poundage [tax per pound] on goodsexported and imported shall be taken to provide safeguard of theseas for such goods.

Judicial Procedure

Jurors shall be selected from those people who have at least 80s.annual income instead of 40s. because sheriffs have been takingbribes by the most able and sufficient freeholders to be sparedat home and the poorer and simpler people, who are least able todiscern the causes in question, and most unable to bear thecharges of appearance and attendance in such cases have been thejurors.

Defendants sued or informed against upon penal statutes mayappear by attorney so that they may avoid the inconvenience oftraveling a long distance to attend and put to bail.

No only sheriffs, but their employees who impanel juries orexecute process in the courts shall take an oath of office.

A hundred shall answer for any robbery therein only if there hasbeen negligence or fault in pursuit of the robber after a hueand cry is made because the past law has been too harsh andrequired payment for offenses from people unable to pay who havedone everything reasonable to catch the robber.

The Star Chamber became the central criminal court after 1560,and punished perjury, corruption, malfeasance throughout thelegal system such as jury corruption and judicial bribery,rioting, slander, and libel. Punishments were imprisonment,fines, the pillory, ear-cropping, whipping, but not death. Thiscourt interrogated the accused, with torture is necessary, andheard witnesses in camera [not in the presence of the accused].

The court of High Commission took over criminal cases formerlyheard by the church courts.

Suits on titles to land were restricted to the common law courtsand no longer to be heard in the Star Chamber, Chancery Court,or in the Court of Requests (equity for poor people).

The Queen's Privy Council frequently issued orders to Justices ofthe Peace, for instance to investigate riots and crimes, toenforce the statutes against vagrancy and illegal games, toregulate alehouses, to ensure that butchers, innkeepers, andvictuallers did not sell meat on fish days, and to gatherinformation needed from the counties.

The Judges of Assize rode on circuit twice a year to enforce thecriminal law and reported their assessment of the work of theJustices of the Peace back to the Privy Council. Accused peoplecould wait for years in jail before their case was heard.

The Privy Council investigated sedition and treason, security ofthe regime, major economic offenses, international problems,civil commotion, officials abusing their positions, and personsperverting the course of justice. The formal trials of theseoffenses would be held elsewhere.

The duty to hear and determine felonies was taken from Justicesof the Peace by 1590. The Judges of Assize did this work.Felonies included breach of prison, hunting by night withpainted faces, taking horses to Scotland, stealing of hawks'eggs, stealing cattle, highway robbery, robbing on the sea,robbing houses, letting out of ponds, cutting of purses,deer-stealing at night, conjuring and witchcraft, diminution ofcoin, counterfeiting of coins, and impenitent roguery andidleness. The penalty was beheading.

The Justices of the Peace decided misdemeanors such as abductionof heiresses, illegal entry, petty thievery, damage to crops,fence-breaking, brawling, personal feuds, drunken pranks,swearing, profanation of the Sabbath, alehouse nuisances,drunkenness, perjury, and malfeasance by officials. They heldpetty and quarter sessions. Many people were hanged for thefelony of theft over 12d. Some bold men accused of felonyrefused to plead so that they could not be tried and foundguilty. They died of heavy weights being placed on their bodies.But then their property could go to their heirs.

The Justices of the Peace had administrative duties in control ofvagrancy, upkeep of roads and bridges, and arbitration oflawsuits referred to them by courts. They listed the poor ineach parish community, assessed rates for their maintenance, andappointed overseers to administer the welfare system, deployingsurplus funds to provide houses of correction for vagrants. Rawmaterials such as wool, flax, hemp, and iron were bought uponwhich the able-bodied unemployed could be set to work at theparochial level. They determined wages in their districts, withno statutory ceiling on them, for all laborers, weavers,spinsters, workmen and workwomen working by the day, week,month, or year, or taking any work at any person's hand,. Therewere about 50 Justices of the Peace per county. All were unpaid.They performed these duties for the next 200 years.

The Court of Queen's Bench and Exchequer indirectly expandedtheir jurisdiction to include suits between citizens, formerlyheard only the Court of Common Pleas or Chancery. Chanceryinterrogated defendants. Chancery often issued injunctionsagainst suits in the common law courts. Trial by battle was veryrare.

Pleadings had to be in writing and oral testimony was given bysworn witnesses. Case decisions are in books compiled by variousreporters who sit in on court hearings rather than in yearbooks.

In the common law courts, the action of assumpsit for enforcingcertain promises is used more than the action of debt in thosecases where there is a debt based on an agreement. The essentialnature of "consideration" in contract is evolving from theprocedural requirements for the action of assumpsit.Consideration may consist in mutual promises, a precedent debt,or a detriment incurred by one who has simultaneously received apromise related to the detrimental action. Consideration must besomething, an act, or forbearance of an act that is of value.For instance, forbearance to sue a worthless claim is notconsideration.

The abstract concept of contract as an agreement between twoparties which is supported by consideration is developing as thenumber of various agreements that are court enforceable expands.For instance the word "consideration" is used in Hayward's Casein 1595 in the Court of Wards on the construction of a deed. SirRowland Hayward was seised in fee of the Doddington manor andother lands and tenements, whereof part was in demesne, part inlease for years with rents reserved, and part in copyhold, byindenture, "in consideration of a certain sum of money" paid tohim by Richard Warren and others, to whom he demised, granted,bargained and sold the said manor, lands and tenements, and thereversions and remainders of them, with all the rents reservedupon any demise, to have and to hold to them and their assigns,presently after the decease of Sir Rowland, for the term of 17years. It was held that the grantees could elect to take bybargain and sale or by demise, each of which had differentconsequences.

In another case, A delivered 400s. to B to the use of C, a woman,to be delivered to her on the day of her marriage. Before thisday, A countermanded it, and called home the money. It was heldin the Chancery Court that C could not recover because "there isno consideration why she should have it".

In a case concerning a deed, A sold land to B for 400s., withconfidence, that it would be to the use of A. This bargain "hatha consideration in itself ... and such a consideration is anindenture of bargain and sale". It was held that the transactionwas not examinable except for fraud and that A was thereforeestopped.

A court reporter at the King's Bench formulated two principles onconsideration of the case of Wilkes against Leuson as: "The heiris estopped from falsifying the consideration acknowledged inthe deed of feoffment of his ancestor. Where a tenant in capitemade a feoffment without consideration, but falsely alleged onein the deed on an office finding his dying seised, the master ofthe wards cannot remove the feoffees on examining into theconsideration, and retain the land until &c. and though the heirtended, still if he do not prosecute his livery, the Queen mustadmit the feoffees to their traverse, and to have the farm, &c."The court reporter summarized this case as follows: Wilkes, whowas merchant of the staple, who died in February last past, madea feoffment in the August before his death to one Leuson, aknight, and his brother, and another, of the manor of Hodnel inthe county of Warwick; and the deed,(seen) for seven thousandpounds [140,000s.] to him paid by the feoffees, of which sum hemade acquittance in the same deed (although in fact and in truthnot a half-penny was paid), gave, granted, and confirmed &c"habendum eir et hoeredibus suis in perpetuum, ad proprium opuset usum ipsorum A. B. et C. in perpetuum," and not "hoeredumsuorum," together with a clause of warranty to them, their heirsand assigns, in forma proedicta: and notwithstanding thisfeoffment he occupied the land with sheep, and took otherprofits during his life; and afterwards his death was found on adiem clausit extremum by office, that he died seised of the saidmanor in fee, and one I. Wilkes his brother of full age found hisnext heir, and a tenure in capite found, and now within thethree months the said feoffees sued in the court of wards to beadmitted to their traverse, and also to have the amnor in farmuntil &c. And although the said I. Wilkes the brother hadtendered a livery, yet he had not hitherto prosecuted it, but forcause had discontinued. And whether now the master of thewards at his discretion could remove the feoffees by injunctionout of possession upon examination of the said consideration ofthe said feoffment which was false, and none such in truth, andretain it in the hands of the Queen donec et quousque &c. was agreat question. And by the opinion of the learned counsel ofthat court he cannot do it, but the Queen is bound in justice togive livery to him who is found heir by the office, or if hewill not proceed with that, to grant to the tenderers thetraverse, and to have the farm, &c. the request above mentioned.And this by the statutes ... And note, that no averment can beallowed to the heir, that the said consideration was falseagainst the deed and acknowledgment of his ancestor, for thatwould be to admit an inconvenience. And note the limitation ofthe use above, for divers doubted whether the feoffees shallhave a fee-simple in the sue, because the use is not expressed,except only "to themselves (by their names) for ever;" but ifthose words had been wanting, it would have been clear enoughthat the consideration of seven thousand pounds had beensufficient, &c. for the law intends a sufficient considerationby reason of the said sum; but when the use is expressedotherwise by the party himself, it is otherwise. And also thewarranty in the deed was "to them, their heirs, and assigns, inform aforesaid," which is a declaration of the intent of Wilkes,that the feoffees shall not have the use in fee simple; and itmay be that the use, during their three lives, is worth seventhousand pounds, and more &c. And suppose that the feoffment hadbeen "to have to them and their heirs to the proper use andbehoof of them the feoffees for the term of their lives forever for seven thousand pounds," would they have any otherestate than for the term of their lives in the use? I believenot; and so in the other case.

A last example of a case concerning consideration is that ofAssaby and Others against Lady Anne Manners and Others. Thecourt reporter characterized the principle of the case as: "A.in consideration of his daughter's marriage covenants to standseised to his own use for life, and that at his death she andher husband shall have the land in tail, and that all personsshould stand seised to those uses, and also for furtherassurance. After the marriage he bargains and sell with fine andrecovery to one with full notice of the covenants and use; thisis of no avail, but on the death of A. the daughter and herhusband may enter." The court reporter summarized this case asfollows: A. was seised of land in fee, and in consideration of amarriage to be had between his daughter and heir apparent, andB. son and heir apparent of C. he covenanted and agreed byindenture with C. that he himself would have, hold, and retainthe land to himself, and the profits of during his life, andthat after his decease the said son and daughter should have theland to them and to the heirs of their two bodies lawfullybegotten, and that all persons then or afterwards seised of theland should stand and be seised immediately after the marriagesolemnized to the use of the said A. for the term of his life,and after his death to the use of the said son and daughter intail as above, and covenanted further to make an assurance ofthe land before a certain day accordingly &c. and then themarriage took effect; and afterwards A. bargained and sold theland for two hundred marks [2,667s.](of which not a penny ispaid) to a stranger, who had notice of the first agreements,covenants, and use, and enfeoffed divers persons to this lastuse, against whom a common recovery was had to his last use; andalso A. levied a fine to the recoverers before any executionhad, and notwithstanding all these things A. continuedpossession in taking the profits during his life; and afterwardsdied; and the son and daughter entered, and made a feoffment totheir first use. And all this matter was found in assize byAssaby and others against Lady Anne Manners and others. Andjudgment was given that the entry and feoffment were good andlawful, and the use changed by the first indenture and agreement.Yet error was alleged. The judgment in the assize isaffirmed.

The famous Shelley's Case stands for the principle that where inany instrument an estate for life is given to the ancestor, andafterwards by the same instrument, the inheritance is limitedwhether mediately, or immediately, to his heirs, or heirs of hisbody, as a class to take in succession as heirs to him, the word"heirs" is a word of limitation, and the ancestor takes the wholeestate. For example, where property goes to A for life and theremainder goes to A's heirs, A's life estate and the remaindermerge into a fee in A.

Edward Shelley was a tenant in tail general. He had two sons. Theolder son predeceased his father, leaving a daughter and hiswife pregnant with a son. Edward had a common recovery (thepremises being in lease for years) to the use of himself forterm of his life, after his decease to the use of the male heirsof his body, and of the male heirs of the body of such heirs,remainder over. After judgment and the awarding of the writ ofseisin, but before its execution, Edward died. After his death,and before the birth of his older son's son, the writ of seisinwas executed. The younger son entered the land and leased it to athird party. Afterwards, the son of the older son was born. Heentered the land and ejected the third party. It was held thatthe younger son had taken quasi by descent until the birth ofthe older son's son. The entry by the older son's son waslawful. The third party was lawfully ejected. (Shelley's Case,King's Bench, 1581, English Reports - Full Reprint, Vol. 76,Page 206.)

Chapter 14: Epilogue

William Brewster and William Bradford and other puritans andpilgrims sailed on ships such as the Mayflower to found a colonyin North America in 1607. England developed a commonwealth ofcountries around the world, including Canada, Australia, NewZealand, and India.

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